1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a broadband wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for locating a terminal in a broadband wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Extensive research is being conducted to provide various Quality of Service (QoS) features with a data rate of about 100 Mbps in the advanced fourth-generation (4G) communication system. The 4G communication system is evolving to provide mobility, high data rate transmission, and high QoS in a broadband wireless access (BWA) communication system such as a local area network (LAN) system and a metropolitan area network (MAN) system.
Users can be provided with various services using communication systems, such as the 4G communication system, which provide mobility and a high data transmission rate. For example, the above communication systems can be used to construct a real-time location system (RTLS) for informing of the location of a terminal. Examples of a conventional communication system-based location scheme are a global positioning system (GPS)-based location scheme and a triangulation technique-based location scheme.
However, the GPS-based location scheme requires that a mobile station must have a chip for receiving GPS signals. Also, the triangulation technique-based location scheme has a large location error and is very complex to implement. Examples of the triangulation technique-based location scheme are a Time Of Arrival (TOA) location scheme and a Received signal strength Of Arrival (ROA) location scheme. However, the TOA location scheme requires highly accurate time synchronization for all mobile stations and the ROA location scheme requires experimental information about signal transmission channels.
As described above, because the conventional GPS-based location scheme requires a GPS signal receiving chip in a mobile station, it increases the structural complexity and cost of a mobile station. Also, because the conventional triangulation technique location scheme requires accurate time synchronization and channel information acquisition, it is difficult to implement and is susceptible to error.